Tuning In: CBS voices question Patriots, but expect them in the hunt

All sorts of questions are circulating across the NFL about the New England Patriots. Here are just a few of them:

"What's it going to be like this year without those three main guys to start the year?" CBS lead NFL analyst Phil Simms asked.

"You cannot help but wonder about the New England Patriots — where are they?" NFL Today analyst Bill Cowher asked. "We saw them in Week 3 in the preseason get dominated by the Detroit Lions team."

"That, to me, is one of the biggest questions hanging over the (NFL) season," said Jim Nantz, the lead NFL play-by-play voice on CBS. "What will the Patriots look like and how will they operate — I think we know this answer — but how will they operate with the Aaron Hernandez story never going away?"

The three main guys whom Simms referred to are Wes Welker, who signed with Denver; Rob Gronkowski, who is expected to miss at least two games after having undergone offseason surgery; and Hernandez, who is in custody on a murder charge.

The NFL experts from CBS expect the Patriots to be just fine even though Tom Brady will open the season without six receivers who caught 364 of his 401 completions and 29 of his 34 touchdown passes last season.

"They always have done a very good job of bringing in some young players," Cowher said. "They don't get old overnight."

So Danny Amendola's history of injuries and the inexperience of rookies Kenbrell Thompkins, Aaron Dobson, Josh Boyce and Zach Sudfeld don't bother the CBS experts.

Before the AFC Championship game last year, NFL Today analyst Boomer Esiason called Brady the greatest quarterback who has ever played and he hasn't changed his mind.

"I do believe he's probably done more with less than a lot of other quarterbacks," Esiason said. "They've tried the Ochocinos, the Randy Mosses of the world, the Brandon Lloyds, and somehow, some way, he always seems to get that team into the playoffs. Their defense has never been a top 10 defense and while they get turnovers, it really all comes back to him and how he navigates this offense."

Fortunately for the Patriots, they play in the weak AFC East.

"They should own their own division," Esiason said. "I don't know whether or not they're going to be overall good enough to unseat either Houston or Denver if everybody stays healthy, but we'll see his (Brady's) greatness come through again this year because he will make these young players so much better and I think he's on par for another 30- to 35-touchdown pass season."

Cowher expects even more from the Patriots than does Esiason.

"I still think when it's all said and done," he said. "They're going to be standing there in January and we're going to be talking about them being the team to beat."

Patriots coach Bill Belichick refuses to say Hernandez's name, but Nantz expects the team to be hearing it a lot this season, and he wonders if that will be a distraction.

Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf will call the action on CBS when the Patriots open their season at 1 p.m. Sunday at Buffalo.

'Behind the B' to debut

Worcester native Denis Leary will narrate "Behind the B," a new behind-the-scenes television series about the Bruins, which makes its debut with a one-hour show at 8 p.m. Monday on NESN.

The Bruins have granted "Behind the B" cameras unprecedented access into the team's locker room, executive boardroom and players' homes. Monday's show begins with coach Claude Julien consoling his players in the locker room after their Game 6 loss in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Viewers will then join team president Cam Neely, general manager Peter Chiarelli and the rest of the front office staff in the boardroom as they decide the roster moves that took place this summer.

The remaining 12 episodes will last 30 minutes each and air dates have not yet been announced.

College football channel

Charter cable has begun offering ESPN Goal Line on its Sports Tier and Digi Tier 2 on Channels 349 and 749 HD. ESPN Goal Line is the college football version of NFL Red Zone in that it switches from game to game with live look-ins, highlights and a chance to see important plays.

When the college basketball season begins, ESPN Buzzer Beater will appear on the same two channels.